When it involves pigs, which have a similar anatomical structure to human beings (so similar that pig organs have sometimes been used in temporary organ transplants to humans), the issue of animal abuse can be more than just shocking.

One of the most graphic and shocking examples of severe pig abuse was captivated recently on film at a large pork factory farm in the American state of North Carolina as graphically shown on the video below.

The video, taken by the aid of a small pilotless drone device, shows first what appears to be a large square pond of muddy water. This “pond” in reality is a large sewage lagoon containing discharges of pig feces and urine. The excrement is pumped into the lagoon from a large number of long enclosed sheds where thousands of swine are kept in steel enclosures so small the animal cannot even turn around.

When the lagoon becomes too full of its foul smelling mixture, the contents are disposed of in the surrounding countryside by high pressure hoses that turn the feces-urine mixture into a fine spray. The spray results in all kinds of health problems to people living nearby. Some of these health problems include causing children and adults to suffer from severe asthma and other forms of respiratory diseases. It is said that there are as many as 2,000 of these “farms” located in the U.S. state of North Carolina alone.

Despite some efforts made to ease a pig’s suffering during the slaughtering process, there is no really humane method.

Even “stunning” a pig by using an electric shock device or using a hammer to hit it on the head prior to being slaughtered causes great pain and suffering to the animal. This YouTube clip shows men “humanely” slaughtering a pig. From the looks on their faces, they seem to be enjoying what they are doing.

Although the Middle East does not have such a serious problem concerning pork production, due mainly to Jewish and Muslim dietary laws, there are enough examples there of animal abuse, including severe abuse of swine at a pig farm in Israel, a country where eating pork is forbidden by the observant Jewish and Muslim populations.

One might expect examples of severe animal abuse to not be occurring in sophisticated Western countries like the USA, but it surely is happening. Most people who purchase the sanitarily packaged pork products being produced at such factory farms are most likely not even be aware of what occurs in these places. Or perhaps people care less about what happens there.

Read more on animal abuse of swine and other animals as a result of the meat processing industry:

Extracting water from the air may have one of the most promising futures due to technology being developed by an Israeli company, Water-Gen, that has taken extraction of water from AC units one step further.

WaterGen units that have received the most attention from the military include a “wearable” portable Spring System unit (see photo) that can filter as much as 7 to 10 gallons (28 – 40 liters) daily; and a larger unit for field bases that produces as much as 120 gallons (480 liters) a day.

WaterGen Chairman and co-CEO Arye Kohavi says that a portable water producing system helps free the military from the need to transport water supplies in tanker convoys which have often been subject to attack in locations like Afghanistan.

India, a country which has a severe problem of enough fresh water for its giant population, has also become interested in Water-Gen devices.

If WaterGen will work in a country such as India, one might well imagine how it would work in other locations which have suitable climate conditions. This could include parts of the Middle East; if this becomes possible.

This spill, occurring in early December, caused an estimated 600,000 gallons or 3 million liters of crude oil to run in virtual torrents through some of the Arava Valley’s most unique desert nature reserves. The spill has caused incalculable damage to fragile desert ecosystems.

Environmentalists estimate that cleaning up this oil spill will cost more than $ 7.6 million and take years to do so.

This recent spill is not unique to the area, as other large spills have occurred during the shadowy history of this controversial pipeline.

That spill alone took weeks to clean up; and resulting damage to the nature reserve and its fragile ecosystem has never been fully corrected. At that time, the Nahal Zin spill was referred to as “Israel’s worst ecological disaster.” So has the recent oil spill as well.

The Eilat Ashkelon oil pipeline was originally constructed in the 1960’s to bring oil purchased from Iran to refineries located on Israel’s Mediterranean seacoast. With Israel still in a state of war with Egypt, Israeli oil tankers and other ocean vessels could not use the Suez Canal.

The Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company, which originally constructed the oil pipeline when Israel still had diplomatic and commercial ties with Iran, has enjoyed a “veil of secrecy” that has been so tight and far reaching that numerous incidents of oil leaks and subsequent environmental and public health damage have been quietly covered up; until now anyway.

A legal petition has been filed by the Israel Union for Environmental Defence with the High Court of Justice that asks that the pipeline company be forced to release all available information on the oil spill; and to release all the audits and critical reports written about the company that were banned from publication by the military censor since a confidentiality order went into effect in 1968.

Lawsuits against the pipeline company are now in the process of being filed on damage caused to the Evrona Nature Reserve, the communal settlement of Be’er Ora (where the oil spill took place); and by environmental activist Yoel Hadida, who demands “that the Israeli public get 820 million shekels ($210 million) in compensation for the damage done to public lands and natural assets, as well as 151.5 million shekels ($39 million) in compensation to area residents.”

Whether or not these lawsuits are successful, the damage caused by this recent pipeline rupture incident will have a serious effect on the Arava environment and health of area residents for years to come.

This ungreen reality is now in the process of being greatly improved, due to an industrious clean up project by the city municipality and overseen by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

These efforts are now transforming the former Sidon dump also known as the Saida dump from a foul smelling garbage mountain into a green park: “It’s gone from a 58-metre (190-foot) trash mountain to an eight-metre green mound. We’ve cleaned up the sewage, and the trash mountain is gone,” said Sidon’s mayor Mohamed al-Saudi.

Sidon Sea Castle with modern city in the background.

The garbage mound came into being during the 15 year Lebanese Civil War (1975 to 1990) when a place was needed to take large amounts of rubble caused by the bombing and shelling. At one point, a large part of the mound’s total size was made up of rubble from destroyed buildings.

Mayor al-Saudi, who came into office in Sidon with a pledge to rid the city of the dump, says he is proud of this project, which will join the former garbage dump to a large 33,000 sq. meter public park that will contain 100 year old olive trees and an amphitheatre.

The dump itself was moved further south.

Edgard Shabab, assistant resident representative and manager of the Energy and Environment Program of UNDP, told Your Middle East that in eight years time “the former mountain of shame will be part of a 100,000 sq. meter green park and something that Sidon will be very proud of. ”

Not everyone is impressed by the project, however, as the costs involved have exceeded more than $25 million USD which critics say could have been put to better use. The project has also caused damage to a long stretch of beachfront, according to Mohamed Sarji, president of the Lebanese Union of Professional Divers.

Despite the objections, the outcome of this project will be far better than the former smelly garbage mountain. Projects like this one will eventually make the entire region a much better place to live in, and help preserve the environment in Lebanon for future generations.

Although modern architectural styling continues to change the face of Iranian cities like Tehran, efforts are now being made by Iran’s Supreme Ruler, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is slow down the pace of contemporary architecture by issuing criticisms against modern high rise structures as being “un Islamic” and not in accordance to religious fatwas or edicts. Sustainability issues are not on the table.

According to an essayarticle written by Mojtaba Nafisi, during Iran’s rich architectural history “the spatial layout of house design in Iran reflected the patriarchal structure of the society through the rigid segregation between private and public space, known in Persian architecture as the andaruni and biruni.”

Putting a veil on shameless and erotic buildings

This architectural concept has now been compromised, he writes, by more contemporary architectural designs which “are also considered erotic because, unlike the spatially introverted pre-modern architecture of Iran, faces outward with windows that shamelessly offer strangers a peek at the buildings’ private parts.”

Religious edicts or fatwas against modern building styles were published by Center for the Study of Science and Technology of the Islamic Iranian Architecture and Urban Planning, which is said to have close ties with the Supreme Ruler, who appears to prefer more traditional or Patriarcial building codes.

This doesn’t mean that Khameni is against all forms of modern innovations; as Nafisi says Khamenei “appears to like other Western innovations, from smoking pipes to ballistic missiles.”

Major efforts have been made to change architectural styling that was introduced during the reign of Iran’s last Shah, the late Reza Pahlavi. These include a number of buildings that were designed and constructed by large Israeli construction companies prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Other Israeli structures include the former Tehran Hilton hotel, now called the Parsian Esteghlal International Hotel, and the Elkan Towers residential project (photo top).

Judging from the current political atmosphere, regarding the state of relations between these two countries, these remaining symbols of past Israeli – Iranian cooporation have undoubtedly been a part of Khamenei’s “un-Islamic” building design thoughts as well.

Growing crops by hydroponic farming, or on water, has been practiced since the ancient Babylonians planted their legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon. These were the world’s first vertical farms concept.

In fact, the practice of hydroponic, water based farming for smart city farms is becoming so popular, that people living in urban environments can benefit from internet databases to obtain “how-to” information for turning their balconies, back yard terraces; and even spare rooms into flourishing hydroponic agricultural wonders with the right equipment, nutrients and lighting.

Even a small terrace can produce good growth yields if there is adequate light and the proper nutrients.

Depending on how much you want to invest in your hydroponic water farm project and what type of plant or vegetable to grow there, you can start a hydroponic garden with a few pieces of plastic piping; or for those wishing to plant “secret gardens” requiring indoor lighting (for cannabis or similar plants) the equipment and work involved can be considerably more.

The actual groing process will need to formulate the right combination of water, lighting, oxygen and nutrients to enable proper plant growth and yields. There are plenty of guides on what is required; including a site called High Times (you figure out the meaning).

According to this site, it’s important to use the best quality water. Using tap water that has a lot of impurities will “lock up” nutrients, creating deficient plants that yield poorly and are susceptible to diseases and pests. The chlorine in tapwater also kills off the beneficial microbial life that helps plant roots. This is also true for growing in soil as well.

Water used for hydroponic water farming can be purified successfully by using filtering systems like reverse osmosis which involves a special membrane to filter out impurities. This is essentially the same reverse osmosis process that is used in desalination to create clean, fresh drinking water from seawater.

In most Western countries, as well as in Israel, only the growing of Cannabis for medical purposes is allowed; and this only by obtaining a special permit to do so. Laws are changing quickly in America that many states now do not require permits.

If this permit can be obtained, hydroponic gardening can be done outdoors; including doing so in roof top gardens that are perfect for people living in crowded urban areas. Also known as medical marijuana, extracts from cannabis plants are being used to treat adverse symptoms of chemo therapy in cancer treatment; and for diseases like AIDS.

New research in the UK on the medical benefits of Cannabis is linking Cannabis chemical extracts like tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) to reducing the size of brain tumors.

Receiving a license to grow medical Cannabis is not any easy task, however, as one Israeli family learned. If going through the legal process of obtaining a license to grow medical Cannabis seems to be difficult, stick to growing organic veggies like lettuce, tomatoes, squash, and herbs. It’s a great way to get a high yield and a constant supply of fresh food out of tight spaces.

Make worm-led compost

You can always get chickens to eat your organic waste, like Karin does at her city chicken coop. But if you don’t have space for chickens or goats, earthworms, the red variety is a perfect way to make your own factory for rich, nutrient compost.

Agrolan sells earthworms for about $16 a box. They also sell all kinds of agtech equipment; including advanced drip irrigation systems, sensors for plants, and weather monitoring devices.

The introduction of redworms for a greener way to dispose of food wastes is a new concept for Agrolan,
which grows and sells them to people who want a more environmentally friendly way to rid themselves of garbage while producing compost for home gardens.

“Raising worms is an educational experience that enriches the whole family; and of course they make an important contribution to the environment, eating unwanted household trash and providing a natural source of compost,” says Agrolan CEO Yehuda Glikman.

For a modest price Agrolan will deliver a small container “batch” of red worms, which are enough for the purchasers to start their own worm bed. Glickman adds that the worms should be kept in a dark, moist place, preferably in a clear plastic container so children can better watch the worms grow.

A worm population can double in size in a three month period. In addition to producing compost their excrement, the worms also produce liquids that are good for the earth environment they are introduced into.

Severe air pollution in many locations is making it hard to breathe in the Middle East. Every year there is a massive black-out in Egypt during the season when straw waste is burnt. Now you can see the fires, thanks to NASA.

A fly over smog in Cairo

Cairo’s air has been found to be the most polluting in the world in 2007.

To add “fuel to the fire” Egypt is now experiencing its annual wave of “straw fires” in it’s northern Nile Delta region.

There, local rice farmers set fire to rice straw in numerous Nile Delta areas, following the annual rice harvest. This results in large heat index increases that are shown as “hot spots” as detected by NASA satellite images, shown above.

The polluting smoke caused by these fires eventually is felt in the country’s major population areas, like Cairo. This adds to already large amounts of existing air pollution caused by vehicles, factories, and other air pollution sources.

Walk with the smog through Cairo

Often referred to as the “black cloud season”, this thick combination of intense air pollution is exasperated by 12,600 factories pushing emissions into the atmosphere.

Now considered to be an annual event, this pollution phenomenon is increased by as much as 45 per cent during the annual rice straw burning in the Nile Delta.

Silver lining: Urban agriculture sprouts in Cairo

“Burning rice straw accounts for six percent of Egypt’s air pollution throughout the year, but during the rice harvesting season this figure jumps to 45 percent,” said Environment Minister Maged George to a local paper.

The burning of so much rice straw and other waste products is what results in the “fuel to the fire” of Egypt’s increasing air pollution problems. And our consumption of these products from lands far away doesn’t help. While last year there was a ban on exporting rice, it seems this year the ban has been lifted.

Egyptian medium grain rice mainly competes with US and Australian rice in global markets and goes for about $800 a ton.

While visionaries like Elon Musk are trying to make electric cars like Tesla mainstream in America, electric cars have yet to become commonplace, largely due to their cost and low driving range.

A number of countries are now involved in developing electric car technology that will give these vehicles a sufficient cruising range, while being more affordable than the $80,000 price tag of the Tesla versions.

One of these cheaper possibilities is from a student engineering team at Turkey’s Istanbul University. They who have developed a prototype electric car called the T1. The development team is called Project Yerel.

Student inspects the T1 electric car under the hood

We digress…the Turkish EV, the YEREL T-1 was tested on a road course the ran literally in a circular path of Turkey, beginning and ending in Istanbul. The kids who built it literally lifted it up onto the cargo truck with their bare hands.

Test driving with Project Yerel in Turkey

The charging time for the 30 KWH of energy needed to propel the car for its alleged cruising distance takes only 4 hours. Even though the car is so light in weight, including it’s battery pack, it might be wondered if this is really as claimed. This skepticism is due to comparing it with electric car battery tectechnology other EV car models; including those in the Tesla models, whose batteries can weigh as much as 250 kg.

In any case, the lesson learned from Better Place’s “post mortem” is that a project involving electric car technology innovation may not actually work out in the long run due to a number of factors. This the fate that befell Shai Agassi’s electric car network dream; and which could eventually befall Elon Musk’s Tesla electric car company as well.

We’ll now be awaiting more information about the new Turkish Yerel T-1 prototype.

This global cooling cycle created periods of unusually cool summers, causing a severe famine in 1315-1317.

It also resulted in the Norsemen abandoning their colonies in Greenland.

Contrary to theories that present day global warming trends have been greatly influenced by humans some climatists now believe that man-caused elevations of carbon dioxide emissions are not the main cause of our current climate change problems (human emissions of CO2 are only 4 to 5% of total global emissions).

Changing ocean current patterns as well as “solar cycle” changes (particularly sunspots) are said to result in cyclable bouts of colder climate patterns.

These change patterns result in longer, more severe winters and shorter, much cooler summers; which have severe impacts on annual food production.

Our planet was a much warmer place in prehistoric times; which allowed such creatures as giant amphibians and reptiles to flourish.

Severe climatic changes such as dramatic ocean current shifts, as well as changes in CO2 concentrations may be what resulted in the demise of the dinosaurs; and not some cataclysmic event like the earth being struck by a giant asteroid.

However, the article continues that “historic records of past natural cycles suggest global cooling for the first several decades of the 21st century to about 2030.”

According to these findings, the earth has gone through alternate periods of global warming and global cooling; due to a number of factors. These include alternating changes in the Pacific Ocean’s Decadal Oscillation (PDO) that shifts between warmer “positive” phases and cooler or “negative” phases.

This PDO oscillation alone resulted in several global periods of fluctuating temperature cycles in the 20th century.

Judging from how the Middle East has fared recently from the wrath of global warming, some cooler and wetter climate changes would be welcome over what this region has experienced the past two decades. As for other parts of the world, especially North America, cooler and wetter weather would be beneficial as well. Cooler, but not too cool.